Video: Kayakers Surrounded by Pod of Orcas in the San Juan Islands

Close encounters: A pod of orcas approaches two kayakers off Washington’s San Juan Islands last month / Screen grab.

Last year, a viral video of a two paddlers approaching a pod of southern right whales set off a stream of controversy on our site as readers debated safe viewing limits for marine life. Now, another video has surfaced, showing a pair of sea kayakers being surrounded by a pod of orcas. But this time the whales approached the kayakers, not the other way around.

Michelle Feis was kayaking with a guide on Roche Sound when she said she noticed a pod of roughly 30 orcas approaching their kayaks. Not long thereafter, the pod had surrounded Feis and her guide, breaching right in front of the nose of Feis' kayak and swimming below her boat.